The Sacred Congregation of Rites, at the urging of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, King of Naples, proclaimed those tortured at Otranto in 1480-1481 by Ahmed Pasha Gedik “the Toothless” “servants of God, confessors of the faith, and glorious martyrs of Jesus Christ.” A full consecration would come much later from Pope John Paul II, in 1980 for the 500th anniversary of the events at Otranto, and the official confirmation would come with Pope Francis on May 12, 2013, in St. Peter’s Square.
